January 21, 2015 AT 3:00 am

This Watch is Geeking out in Binary #WearableWednesday

I think binary jokes are the best, so that’s probably why I’ve fallen for TheNerd Watch that I spied on Hackaday. It may be small in size, but it’s big on geek, with its minimalist circuit board and hand stitched straps. Designed by Sam DeRose, it gives the time in binary thanks to two surface mount LEDs located at the 1 and O on the face. Here’s a cheat sheet to get the idea.

Sam was inspired by his father’s Maker Faire project, which was a chunkier version of the watch. I actually like the fat LEDs on that version, probably because they remind me of LED throwies. However, on the new slim model, the flat style seems appropriate. Sam’s been good enough to post an Instructable on the project, and you’ll find it has very few parts. It relies on the ATtiny85, which has a built-in clock feature, allowing for the binary blinks at the push of a button. The design element that really sets the watch off is the board, which was created on an OMC Othermill CNC machine. I’ve never used a machine like that, but I feel like Sam’s directions makes it look easy. In fact, his pics showing the process are awesome.

You won’t hear me go on about watches very often, as I’m not even wearing one. However, I will say that I would absolutely sport this model. I like that it encourages making your own board, which is something I would really like to try as well. So, why not join the nerd league and make your own binary watch. If you don’t have access to a CNC machine, but you still want a sweet watch, check out our Solder: Time 2 Watch Kit. It has plenty of LEDs you can control to do all sorts of scrolling images, as well as the normal time and date stuff. Plus, you can still see all those beautiful parts gleaming through the acrylic pieces. Isn’t it time you got in touch with your inner nerd?

Make a robot friend with Adafruit’s CRICKIT – A Creative Robotics & Interactive Construction Kit. It’s an add-on to our popular Circuit Playground Express, FEATHER and other platforms to make and program robots with CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. Start controlling motors, servos, solenoids. You also get signal pins, capacitive touch sensors, a NeoPixel driver and amplified speaker output. It complements & extends your boards so you can still use all the goodies on the microcontroller, now you have a robotics playground as well.